


Bleached

by AkaiMirage



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Constructive Criticism Welcome, Gen, One Shot, Seireitei, Short One Shot, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:28:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23624623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkaiMirage/pseuds/AkaiMirage
Summary: Inspired by Wymp's One-shot "The Substitute" where instead of Rukia, it was Byakuya who arrived in Karakura.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	Bleached

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Substitute](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/582214) by Wymp. 



He never quite imaged the decision he made that day to blow up in his face so spectacularly.

Knowing he had broken the law, even with his reassurance of 'the end justifying the means', it still left a rather sour taste in his mouth.

While he might not hold any particular warm feelings for the strange human child he'd given up his powers for, Byakuya knew what loyalty and honor meant, and as such the only option that had been left for him to do was surrender peacefully when the reapers had finally located him.

While the duo would show no mercy upon the human had Kurosaki been with him, they would not bother targeting him if Byakuya just gave up, as humiliating as being arrested was. An affront to the _respectable_ clan he had been born into and certainly a disgrace he would never quite recover from even if by some miraculous turn of event they wouldn't have his head for this.

As a captain, as a clan head, what he had done was inexcusable. He knew that. He had know that from the start, and yet...

Byakuya was a fairly old soul, yet while it might've been expected of him, he had no desire to die for this perceived slight he was guilty of.

Once, he wouldn't have questioned it. It mightn't be fair to blame Kurosaki for this, though he had no trouble doing so at this point. The strange, oh so _strange_ child that this Kurosaki fellow was, his... spunk, this fire that was ever burning in those chestnut eyes of his was inspiring, in a way that even the Triple C captain, _("Cold, calm & collected" he was called. Accurate as that description might be, still a hurtful slur)_ was affected, no, _contaminated_ as that of a virus.

It was a funny feeling though, that he found the source of the virus to be decent enough of a company. Maybe being on, friendly terms might be a stretch, but amicable enough with the exile Urahara had desensitized him enough to tolerate humans.

On second thought, humans mattered very little to his day to day life, so maybe it was just the Kurosaki child that, not mattered per say, had some significance to his being.

He was a familiarity that Byakuya felt would be hard to forget, and, as much as he would prefer to go back to being the stoic _(bastard, they would say if they had the guts)_ guy Soul Society knew, the lack of Kurosaki's reietsu would feel... odd.

Odd in a way he didn't care for at all.

Being confined in the tower, with a front line view of the execution site that would soon be the last place he'll set foot on, Byakuya had little else to do than to think. Think and reminisce.

Like that evening a few months ago where he had met the Kurosaki child for the first time. It was certainly an experience hard to forget.

He remembered the sensation that had passed through him, the anxious feeling of unwilling anticipation, when the tip of his trusted blade had briefly rested onto the child's chest before hands that he couldn't recognize as his own though they doubtlessly had been, had forced the blade onward.

His mind had been empty in that moment, the usual warmth he had known for so long humming from within, in an instant, _gone_.

He wanted to scream for the sensation of loss was so unbearable and he was sure that if he had been less of a man, less of a dutiful noble, he would give in to that yearning.

All he could do was stand on his knees, panting harshly, as the full realization of just what his grief meant.

He had known, of course, that what he had planned to do was nothing short of an abomination in the eyes of the Soul Society, for a shinigami to do what he had done was tantamount to treason even.

The fact that he couldn't bring himself to regret it, was almost as surprising as the fact that the child had unwittingly stolen his powers from him.

Byakuya wasn't sure how that had happened, a mystery that would need to be looked into as soon as possible. For now, the hollow battling the child was more important.

Duty above all else, even if he in this case had never felt quite so useless.

The sound of footsteps approaching made Byakuya snap out of his musings and he raised his gaze towards the figure standing on the other end of the thick steel bars.

_Why had that man come? To gloat? Why was he smiling?_

"Do you want me to save you?"

_!! That condescending bastard!_

_"_ Just kidding..."

It's not like he'd actually thought Ichimaru to have been sincere, but for one moment, he had felt _something_.

Hah. Had the idea of someone fighting for him been that important?

Why should he delude himself? Nobody's on his side, and even if there had been, it was much too late now.

The choker with wooden handles was fastened non too gently around his neck with a thick leather strap, as another hooded guard made certain that Byakuya's hands were bound tightly together.

Glancing at the window, he could see the sun was still set high on the sky. Not a cloud in sight. How convenient.

At the very least, he wouldn't have to die out in the rain.

Disappointment. The one thing Byakuya had worked tirelessly to avoid, was the only thing he could see in their eyes.

Granted, it was a notch better than the sheer betrayal he had been ready for, yet it still rubbed him in the wrong way.

If he found it odd that he had not been given the chance to speak in his defense after his incarceration, he never voiced it.

Even if he had committed the gravest of sins, he was still a captain known for his duty-bound persona, _famously_ known for it,

and even the lowest ranked of shinigami had the right to speak if given a trial, yet none of the common courtesies were shown to him.

How could it be that he was denied the right to speak at his own trial, refused visitors from those he had a duty towards, and no one thinking it to be peculiar?

The wrongness screamed at him, and as he was lifted into midair by invisible bonds holding him in place, he looked down onto the sad face of his adopted sister who was shaking by an obvious inner turmoil.

He had failed her in more ways than he cared to count, and _yet_....

Even if it would lead to absolutely nowhere, even if Rukia would never forgive him for not being there for her as well as he would've liked to do...

The mirror image of his beloved wife, Byakuya wished he could tell her how sorry he was.

His mouth stayed a thin line as he waited for the end.

Knowing the oddity of the human child's persona from those months of careful observation, it shouldn't have surprised him that the child managed to do the impossible and yet again screw things up.

Byakuya had to admit though, as he was caught in Kurosaki's waiting arms and cradled in a protective (possessive?) embrace, that he wasn't too put out over the fact that his soul was still intact.

"You should not have come," he told Kurosaki, resigned. The child was too kind for his own good. Did he not realize what fate he'd bring upon himself?

"What are you talking about," Kurosaki growled, one eyebrow twitching irritably. It would seem he had upset his savior somehow.

Byakuya wasn't sure how he had managed that, but that was rather like him. He had never been a people person, even if he had tried to understand others better while trapped in the gigai Urahara had made for him.

"You..!" Kurosaki cut himself off, shaking his head. "You don't get it at all, do you?"

 _No, I don't,_ Byakuya admitted to himself, though his mouth remained shut. The orange-haired child seemed to "get it" anyway, which was rather refreshing. Not many had ever understood him.

"You gave up your powers for me," Kurosaki said, his eyes shining with a faint hue that seemed to see right through him, which was not an entirely unpleasant feeling.

"You helped us when you didn't have to, even if you were a bit of a jerk about it." _Ouch._ He certainly doesn't spare one's feelings.

"But," at the slight hesitation, Byakuya raised a delicate eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Even if it was a crime in the eyes of Seireitei, you risked everything, and being executed for that is unjust. We won't stand for it. Because!"

"Because...?" _Why do you feel so strongly? Why do you risk everything for me? I'm nothing to you._ "Because you are our _friend_."

Except that, it seemed.

For some reason he wasn't quite sure of, the corners of his mouth drew into a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> The fic that inspired this one has been on my mind for a considerable amount of time, and as that one has never gotten a continuation of when Byakuya was brought back to the Seireitei, I decided to write my own ending.  
> I highly recommend The Substitute, even if you are not a fan of Byakuya, because that one, in my humble opinion, manages to keep him delightfully in character, and yet sympathetic of sorts.
> 
> * In my first draft, it was supposed to be the glasses-wearing fiend who visited Byakuya during his time in lock up, but their dialogue didn't work out for me (and Aizen had little reason to antagonize him at that point), so it was deleted.


End file.
